For what it's Worth
by BarelyHuman
Summary: Deidara is newly enducted into the Akatsuki, but right off the bat Sasori seems to hate him, which isn't so unusual, but how can he gain his new partner's trust?  [rated for later chapters::Slight Zetsu x Dei  eventually  Saso x Dei]
1. Chapter 1: Friction

"What the hell is that?" Sasori spat the words like poison, or as he would if he were human. In front of him stood a rather tall young man, (although you'd never have guessed it was a man) and a peculiar looking one at that. His face was somewhat childish, half draped with long blonde locks; the rest pulled into a ridiculous looking pony tail at the top of his head.

"_He,_" Zetsu made sure to emphasize this, "is your new partner."

Sasori shook his head, "You've got to be kidding me…" He took another hard look at his 'new partner' before making the decision that this was a waste of his time and talent. Zetsu motioned for the blonde to come over to they could be properly introduced.

"Deidara-san, this is your partner, Sasori-sama." Deidara politely held his hand out for a simple hand shake, but Sasori only returned it with a cold stare of about three seconds before walking off. Zetsu lowered his voice, "Don't mind him. He's never been friendly towards anyone really, but he's still kind of upset about his last partner. He'll get used to you… eventually."

After showing Deidara around headquarters to get him acquainted with his new home, Zetsu returned with Sasori so the two could get more familiar with each other. He intended to leave the two alone, but before exiting the room, left a final note to Sasori, "Try not to kill the kid."

Sasori sat down in a chair across from Deidara. There was a short, awkward silence before either of them spoke, and amazingly enough, Sasori was the one to break the silence. "So, start talking." He was very blunt, and obviously not thorough enough for Deidara's full understanding. "I'm sorry…?"

Sasori sighed, "The basics. Why are you here, why shouldn't I kill you? Things like that." Deidara's gaze dropped, not wanting to make direct eye contact with someone who seemed to dislike him so much already. "Well… I'm here to fill in the position of your former member, and I guess that's why you shouldn't kill me, because then you'd just have to find another replacement." He glanced up for a split second, only to see that Sasori's expression had not changed in the slightest. He went on, hoping to make things better. "I'm very skilled though. I'm a master with clay and explosives. It's beautiful art, and an effective way to destroy the enemy."

"Bullshit." Deidara raised his head slightly at the blatant comment. "Explosions are not art." The blonde shook his head, "But Sasori-sama they _are_. They're magnificently destructive and-"

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. Art is long lasting and carefully constructed: both of which explosions are not. You're just talking a bunch of nonsensical crap."

"Art is quick and fleeting, mere seconds of beauty. That's the only way to truly appreciate it."

"That, my dear Deidara, is where you are wrong, and if you continue to think with that one-track mind of yours, you will always continue to be wrong."

Deidara finally decided to really stand up for himself. "You know what? You are so arrogant, that you think you're the only one that can be right? Because you've been here longer than me, you think you have some kind of superior authority, and that automatically means anything I say is either wrong, or not worth your time?"

Sasori stood from his seat, looking about ready to strangle Deidara, "You'll be lucky to even wake up in the morning I you don't learn your place in the organization." Without another word, he walked off, leaving Deidara alone until Zetsu returned not long after. "Well…that went well…"

Deidara looked over to Zetsu, hoping for some answers. "Like I said before, don't take it personally. He's like that to everyone when they first get here, sometimes for a long time afterwards." Zetsu sat down next to Deidara, "You see, there's a sort of 'unofficial' system we have here, that everyone just follows to keep the peace. In terms of hierarchy, all the new members start at the bottom of the totem pole. Leader-sama is, of course, the top position. Secondly, is Konan, since she's been here just as long as Leader-sama. Sasori came not long after they did, so he's been here for a pretty long time."

Deidara cocked his head with a confused look on his face, "He's been here the longest? But he's so young."

Zetsu shook his head, "He only looks that way. In reality, he's probably about 40, maybe even 50 by now." He watched the expression on Deidara's face go from confused to a little surprised, before continuing, "Next in line is Kakuzu, and then Hidan and I. After that are Itachi and Kisame, and then there's you. Well, there's Tobi too, but he doesn't really count…"

Deidara nodded, as if connecting puzzle pieces in his head, "So, what that means is, if I play along with Sasori-sama's superiority complex and show that I respect him, he won't threaten to kill me every two minutes and might actually treat me like an equal partner?"

Zetsu nodded, "I'm not so sure he'll ever see you as an equal, but pretty close. You just have to be patient with him, that's all. Give it time."


	2. Chapter 2: Training

Deidara perked up the collar of his new cloak, looking himself up and down one last time in the mirror. His held his hand out in the light of the small lamp on the table by his bed, adorning the ring entrusted to him as a member of the Akatsuki organization. Satisfied with himself, he left his room, confident that he would keep himself off of Sasori's bad side today.

As Deidara walked down the hallway, he found Sasori leaning against the wall, waiting with his arms crossed. He looked annoyed already, and Deidara hadn't even done anything yet. He was on time; he hadn't said a word… why did Sasori already look like he wanted to kill him?

Sasori looked up at the tall blonde beside him, and without a word, walked off. Deidara assumed he was supposed to follow him, and since Sasori said nothing of the contrary, he figured he had guessed right. They were supposed to be on some sort of training mission, to prepare Deidara for what may come ahead, now that he was part of such a notorious criminal organization.

Once outside, they walked a short ways to what looked to be a small abandoned village. Sasori stopped and turned to Deidara, "The goal of the Akatsuki is to collect demon spirits, or bijuu, which often reside inside the body of a human being. These people are called jinchuuriki, and can be identified by their usually large amount of chakra. In this scenario, you will be tested on your ability to identify the jinchuuriki, though its chakra level will be only a fraction compared to the real thing. Then you'll need to catch it without actually killing the jinchuuriki. Any questions?"

Deidara shook his head, "I don't think so…" Of course, Sasori gave him no time to think of any questions before he had disappeared. "I guess that means start, un."

As he walked through the miniature village, he looked around, and actually began to notice that there were people there. However, it was strangely quiet. None of them were talking, and they were, for the most part, very still. Still, he could pick up their chakra, but kept his guard just in case. Towards the end of the village, a much stronger chakra vibe was coming from what seemed to be an elderly man. He had his back turned to Deidara, so he crept up slowly and quietly behind him, his hand in a small pouch at him side, prepared for anything. Deidara was less than eight feet from the man when he suddenly whipped his head around, and the ground began to shake. Deidara quickly jumped back, avoiding the sinking earth. _This is weird… _Deidara pulled his hand out of the pouch, the mouth in his palm intently chewing on something. The old man was now rushing towards him, a kunai held in his hand to attack. A small clay spider emerged from the mouth, just in time for Deidara to slide out of the man's path and attach the figurine to the back of his right shoulder. Before the man had time to turn around Deidara's hands were together in a hand seal, and with a quick signal, the spider exploded. "Katsu." The explosion took out the man's right arm, the one with the kunai, which rendered him not only weaponless, but unable to create hand seals as well. The man's body fell to the ground and lay motionless. "What was that, un…?"

"That was one of my older puppets, a former jinchuuriki. That's not important right now, what is, is that you realize what you did wrong. Suppose we had traveled four days to capture that man, what's wrong with how you handled the situation?"

Deidara thought as Sasori waited for an answer from the roof above. When nothing came, Sasori continued, "When we're on missions like that, we have limited supplies and time. He could very well bleed to death under those circumstances. Also, you have to take into account the age and health of the jinchuuriki, understand?"

Deidara nodded. "I'll remember all that next time."  
Sasori came down from the roof, taking Deidara's palm and examining closely. "You created an explosive with this… how?"

Deidara slipped his hand from Sasori's loose grip and pulled out a small wad of clay, "With this, un. I can mold it in the mouths on my palms and infuse my chakra into the figure." He put the clay into the mouth, allowed it to chew a little, and soon a completed spider emerged, an exact replica of the first. Sasori scooped it up from Deidara's hand, turning it this way and that as he looked it over. "And it detonates on command, correct?" Deidara nodded, "That's right, un." Sasori dropped the figure back into his partner's hand as if he were suddenly no longer interested in it, "Well, I guess you're not quite as talent-less as I thought," he turned his head slightly as to not look directly at Deidara, "You can take that as a compliment." He then simply walked off as he had done before. Snapped from his train of thought, Deidara chased after him, "Wait, that was it, un?"

Sasori kept walking, "I wasn't sure how much of you I could put up with for one day, so I decided to play it safe."

Deidara didn't bother to try to catch up with the red head. Instead he stayed behind. He looked around the empty village and sighed, dragging his feet back towards headquarters.

I know that was not the best, but I promise the next chapter(s) will be much better. I was at a loss of inspiration with I wrote this one.


	3. Chapter 3: Trust and Respect

It had been about three weeks, and although Sasori seemed to show little, if any, change is feelings towards his new partner, Deidara couldn't help but become more determined to break down the wall that always seemed to keep them apart. He wanted to prove himself to Sasori, but it seemed that no matter what he tried, he would always get that same, practically life-less expression, and was waved off so Sasori could tend to whatever he was doing at the time.

It was late in the evening, and Deidara and Sasori had set out for their first real mission together that morning. Their target in a nearby village, they had decided upon staying in an Inn on the outskirt of the village. In their room were two small bed, some dreary grey wallpaper, a desk and wooden chair in the corner with a dim lamp on the edge, and a small bathroom.

"Homey…" Deidara muttered, but of course Sasori caught it, taking it as a complaint. "You'd better get used to it. Being a criminal organization, and considering our goals are much bigger than stealing, we don't exactly have the funds for what you may call luxury."  
"Calm down, you don't have to take everything so seriously."

Sasori snorted, darting the blonde an angry look, "You should learn to take things more seriously, unless you intend on an early death. You'd be doing us all a favour…"

If there was one thing Deidara had gotten better at, it was ignoring what Sasori said that usually would get him into trouble if he talked back. He simply let the silence resume, knowing that it was best to give Sasori the last word.

It stayed quiet for some time; Sasori had taken the seat at the desk and Deidara sprawled out on one of the beds. On the desk, tools, scrap materials, and a puppet appendage had been scattered, and the lamp pulled more towards the center so that the dim bulb could be of more use. Deidara had chosen the bed closest to the desk so that he could use what little of the yellow glow possible the mold his clay. He was lying on his back, his head hanging off the edge so that his hair touch the floor, this way he could keep an eye on Sasori. He noticed that when he used his fingers instead of just popping the claying into one of the mouths on his palms, he and Sasori went through the same patterns of movement. "Making a puppet… it's kind of like molding clay, isn't it? You have to shape each piece just right, with all the details and stuff, so it looks right."  
Sasori did not stray from his work, and it took him so long to answer Deidara thought he was being ignored. Finally, he got a low murmur from the puppeteer, "I suppose…"

Deidara wasn't sure if Sasori actually kind of agreed, or he was just saying that to keep him from arguing or trying to prove a point. "I knew I had something in common with you Danna."  
It took Sasori a second to process this statement before pausing in his work and turning his head slightly. "What did you say?"  
"I said I knew I had something in common with you."  
Sasori shook his head, "No. No you don't." With that he returned to his work, not wanting to even try explaining how completely opposite the two of them really were. Deidara sighed to himself, "I'm still going to call you Danna from now on."

"That's fine." Sasori was glad that Deidara had finally found some respect for him. "I see you're finally getting how things work. Now all you've got to do is show me that you're worth my time."

"I made it through your crazy training didn't I?" After that first day, Sasori had put him through more and more dangerous situations, almost costing him a limb many times. "That proves nothing, only that you have skill."  
Deidara sat up, confused. "What else do I need to prove?"

Sasori sighed, "You have a lot to learn yet... Skill is useful, but is only aspect of being someone's combat partner. For that you also need respect, which I'm still a little skeptical about, and trust."

"You mean you don't trust me?"

"Of course I don't. Honestly, I don't think I ever will."

"Why not?"

"Because trust takes a long time, and is not easy to build. Frankly, I'm not quite sure you'll be partnered with me long enough for that to happen."

"I'll prove you wrong."

"I thought you were learning… now you're going to argue with me?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just saying that all these negative things that you say about me, I'm going to prove you wrong. You just wait."

Sasori did not reply. He just kept at his work, shaking his head in disbelief.

Deidara put his clay away, wondering what time it was. The room had no clock, and even if it did, it would be too dark to read it. He figured it was pretty late, considering how tired he had become. He knew Sasori would scold him later on if he was tired when they were out on their mission and he was half asleep the entire time, so he turned over and closed his eyes, and not even a minute later he had drifted off.


End file.
